Hispanic legislators have climbed to top leadership spots in the state during the past five years, with Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez and future House Speaker Daniel Perez paying homage to their Cuban heritage. Meanwhile, the Florida Hispanic Legislative Caucus remains dormant.
The caucus went inactive after 2018, according to accounts from former members and roll calls from the House Office of the Clerk obtained by Florida Phoenix.
Among the top five states with the highest population of Hispanics, Florida is the only one that doesn’t have a caucus. The other states are California, Texas, Arizona and Illinois, according to Pew Research Center. For example, Texas has one caucus for each chamber and New York has a joint Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus.
Little remains of the legacy of the Hispanic legislative caucus, which Republicans launched as the Cuban-American Caucus of the Florida House of Representatives in 1988. At the time, Republican Bob Martinez was the first Hispanic governor. Only two former members are still in the Legislature. They are Sen. Victor Torres, Jr, a Democrat representing Osceola County and parts of Orange in Central Florida, and Sen. Bryan Avila, a Republican from Miami-Dade County.
Avila’s legislative aide said he could not provide a comment because he is on military duty with the Florida National Guard. In the Senate, Avila is accompanied by three other Republican Hispanics. Torres is the only Democrat.
There are varying accounts for the demise of the caucus. Torres and others say Republican supermajorities make it hard for legislators to unite based on anything other than political ideology. But former Republican Rep. Bob Cortes said there need to be more Hispanic legislators to have a caucus.
Bipartisan efforts
“It feels lonely. … We did so many good things in early 2014 to help the immigration community, and this governor and this supermajority Republicans have changed all that and taken away all those things that we passed for these young folks, students, and people who come to this country for a future,” Torres said during a phone interview with the Phoenix. “And that’s the sad point, that even those who are immigrants themselves in their background who are elected officials forget where they came from.”
Torres said that Republican Latinos within the caucus were in favor of bills in 2014 allowing undocumented people to receive in-state tuition and practice law. At the time, then-Rep. Nuñez got praise for getting the in-state tuition proposal across the finish line. Earlier this year, she said it should be repealed.
The in-state tuition law remains intact. But the state’s newest immigration law that became effective on July 1 once again banned undocumented lawyers from practicing their profession.
While the caucus was active, Nuñez was not only a member, she was its last leader too. She is listed in roll calls as the chair of the caucus from 2014 to 2018.
The Florida Governor’s Office did not respond to the Phoenix’s requests for comment from Nuñez.
Reviving the caucus
Hillsborough Rep. Susan Valdés also understands how Torres feels as she is one of two Democrat Hispanics in the House. She said she has bonded with her Democratic colleague in the House — Johanna López of Orange County. They both took office after the caucus went inactive, but Valdés said she wanted to bring it back when she took office.
“Rookie me was thinking ‘We are Hispanic. We should get together and talk about our issues,’” Valdés said in an interview with the Phoenix. “It shouldn’t be a party situation when we’re representing our people.”
Valdés, López and Democrat Leader Fentrice Driskell held a press conference on Wednesday morning at the state Capitol to discuss how Latinos have been affected under the DeSantis administration.
“Hispanics in the Democratic caucus are finding different ways of being able to communicate to Floridians the challenges and the great impact that we as Hispanics bring to the state of Florida,” Valdés said during the interview with the Phoenix. “And how some of these policies are really contradicting what we say we want for the state of Florida and its financial impact. So, we have to be front and center to talk about these things. We will be the ones to talk about it because nobody else is.”
Strength in numbers
On the other hand, Cortes, who represented parts of Central Florida from 2014 until 2018, attributed the inactivity of the caucus to an overall loss of Hispanic legislators.
“The more people you have that are Hispanic, the more strength you have. After the 2018 election, unfortunately, I lost my election and some others were termed out or did not seek reelection,” he said in an interview with the Phoenix. “So, when you see a drop in participation, obviously, those that stay behind don’t have enough people to even get a quorum.”
Caucus roll calls from 2010 to 2018 show a fluctuating number of members. From 2010 to 2012, the caucus had its lowest membership with 15 legislators. The highest membership was from 2014 to 2016 when 23 legislators were part of the caucus. By the end of 2018, the caucus had 13 Republicans and seven Democrats.
Non-Hispanic legislators could also join the caucus if there was a large population of Hispanic people in their district. Overall, 27 percent of Floridians are Hispanic or Latino, according to U.S. Census data.
Now, there are five Hispanic senators, according to Senate Secretary Tracy Cantella. Thirteen members of the House have mentioned their Hispanic heritage on their websites or social media.
Cortes said he would like to see the caucus make a comeback.
“I believe the caucus is a very important way to highlight the diversity that exists in the Legislature and the good things that the caucus would bring forward to the Hispanic community, especially those deserving Hispanic students that were able to obtain scholarships from those members of the caucus,” he said.
Bound by party affiliation
Although the Florida Legislature has no Hispanic caucus of its own, state legislators have been involved in the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators, which is bipartisan. Torres and Valdés are active members, according to Kenneth Romero, the director of the national caucus. Cortes served as the South region chair when he was still a representative.
“Hispanics in Florida are not being denied representation; they’re not being denied that political power, which tends to be a driver for oftentimes caucuses,” Romero said in an interview with the Phoenix. “In Florida, because there are so many Latinos in the state Legislature, then what ends up happening is they tend to be more bound together by party affiliation than by their Hispanic heritage or their ethnicity.”
Ultimately, Torres, whose second term ends in 2024, said the Legislature would need more Democrat Hispanic legislators to bring the caucus back.
“It would take an act of God I think sometimes. …I don’t know yet if it’s possible [to revive the caucus]. You don’t know with next year’s elections if it’s going to result in adding more Democratic Latinos to the Legislature,” he said.
Rep. Daniel Perez declined the Phoenix’s request for comment.
The Hispanic senators are:
- Torres
- Avila
- Alexis Calatayud
- Ileana Garcia
- Ana Maria Rodriguez
The Hispanic representatives are:
- Perez
- Valdés
- López
- Susan Plasencia
- Carolina Amesty
- Danny Alvarez
- Tom Fabricio
- David Borrero
- Vicky Lopez
- Alex Rizo
- Alina Garcia
- Juan Carlos Porras
- Fabián Basabe
This article originally appeared in florida phoenix